Deep Desires
by whitespirit04
Summary: Vincent and Cloud have wound up having to share a house together thanks to Yuffie and her friend Leon. Will Vincent hide his feelings for Cloud or try for a future with him? and how will he prevale with so many opsticals in his path?
1. A Beginning

Deep Desires

Heaving a sigh of relief he let the heavy baggage slide of his broad shoulder.

_Finally here… _

He glanced about their new 'domain'. It seemed like a nice enough place, bright and spacey; the least he had hoped for after the 6 hour journey to get there, stuck in a cramped, stale smelling, cheap ass taxi with possibly the most slimiest taxi driver in the world. That plus the awkward tension he was getting from his 'room mate to be'.

Suddenly, he felt a slight pang in his side before he was barged, rather ruthlessly, deeper into the house. He glanced, slightly shocked, to where the cause of the now minor ache in his side was, only for his crimson eyes to fall on non-other then Cloud.

The young blonde was already making his way upstairs, luggage in tow, apparently unfazed buy the fact that he had bumped into the taller male.

Vincent sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. He had hoped that maybe this would be a fresh start for them both, were he could really get to know Cloud on more of a personal level. Vincent had to laugh slightly at that. "Sure, on a _personal _level" How long had it been now since he had fallen for those big blue mako filled eyes? He wasn't sure but it had definitely happened sometime between seeing Cloud for the first time and asking for his name. It really was quite shameful how much of a sap he could be when it came to romance, or rather when it came to the blonde.

The raven haired man walked further into the house inspecting the other rooms. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of living with the Ex-Soldier in the first place but after he had somehow let it slip to Yuffie about his 'situation' with Cloud, she had been more then happy to meddle were she wasn't particularly wanted. Though he couldn't really complain, she was only looking out for him after all, in fact he had grown rather close to the hyperactive youth, she was really the closest thing to a best friend he had ever had. She had told him about some friend she had called Leon and insisted that him and Cloud stay in a house he was renting out, free of charge of course, courtesy of this Leon guy who just happened to be 'all the rage'. To be honest Vincent was growing pretty damn tired of hearing about this 'amazing room mate' Yuffie wound up living with, especially since he had never met the guy. She hadn't stopped blabbing on about him the first day she had got there. In fact even now three months after she's moved in with this 'boy wonder' she still manages to slide him into one of their conversations. _' Leon's been there…Leon's done that…Leon likes those' _Rolling his eyes at the thought he dumped his bags onto the floor of the warmly lit living room, after a quick nosy about he made his way around a corner, through the cosy dining room into the smartly tiled kitchen. Come to think of it, this was actually a really nice place. Why didn't Leon live here himself instead of renting it out? didn't he have much money and needed to earn it or did he already live in some kind of godly mansion? The way Yuffie went on about him, it wouldn't surprise Vincent.

Heh, maybe that was what everybody _really_ liked about him. His money. Not that he thought Yuffie was shallow like that, but apparently he was quite the hit with, well, everyone. Really, he's probably just some washed up schmuck living off of daddy's money.

After making his brief inspection of the house he decided to join Cloud upstairs. He traipsed up the steps dragging what felt like a dead body of luggage up the stairs that right now seemed to go on forever, much to the raven haired mans dismay. After his voyage to the second floor he glanced briefly into one of the nearest rooms. Cloud was laying on what Vincent guessed was now Clouds bed. The older male paused briefly, just to gaze at the blonde. It was stupid at how the smallest thing the younger did, captivated him, even if it was simply staring at the ceiling. He must have been watching him for longer then he had realised because his crimson gaze was soon met with stern blue orbs. Cloud had sat up and was now staring at the slightly taken aback man in his door way.

The awkward silence lasted much longer than Vincent would have liked, not that he particularly liked the awkwardness at all.

'_Crap! Now what am I supposed to say? Oh sorry Cloud, hope you don't mind that I was just perving on you for a little while whilst you happily minded your own business??'_

O.K so maybe the 'happily' part was a bit of a stretch but he had to say something!

Much to his own disapproval the taller man, reluctantly, remained stood, gawping at the blonde. His mind was running over things to say, anything was better than just standing there!

'_Damn! Think! Anything, anything! Ask him if he wants a cup of tea or something… does he even drink tea?'_

His trail of thought stopped as the blonde slowly climbed off of the bed and began to walk over to Vincent.

'_Oh my god! Is he going to hit me? Yell at me? Or maybe invite me in…yeh maybe not'_

He watched as the spiky headed youth stopped in front of him, there was a brief moment until suddenly the wooden door was slammed in front of the raven haired mans face.

He stared momentarily at the wooden barrier between them. Well… out of all the thoughts that had raced through his head he hadn't expected that. He stood stunned, blinking a few times at the oak barricade. Vincent sighed, not sure why he hadn't assumed that Cloud would have shut the door. Maybe he had been hoping he wouldn't, subconsciously pushed the idea to the back of his head and instead just wished that maybe just _maybe_, he would have invited him in. Slowly, he turned and continued down the hallway until he reached another door, one that wasn't as loathed as Clouds was right now.

Entering the room he glanced around.

'_Damn_…'

The room was, needless to say, smaller than Clouds. Vincent supposed that naturally the blonde had chosen the biggest and best room for himself. Deciding that he was too tired to care about the inequality of his room and what he had briefly seen of Clouds, he dragged himself over to his double bed and weakly flopped onto it. Today had been tough and he could only hope that it would get easier. Surely Cloud would have to warm up to him sometime right? He wouldn't really remain an enigma of himself their entire stay?

"I guess time will only tell" Vincent mumbled lazily to himself. He laid there for a few more moments contemplating his situation, until, eventually a much longed for sleep over took him.

* * *

ok well thats the first chap you guys have to tell me what you think because theres no point writing a story no one will read right? XD 

so please review! I hope you enjoyed it so far anywho lol oh and this chap is pretty short I realise, maybe it can be an epiloge of some sort hmm? hopefully the other chapters will be longer heh


	2. A Half Decent Convo

Yay second chap! sorry I took a while to post, I have stupid course work XO and yeh I know ' if I have alot of work why did I start writing a story now?' well I have asked myself that many times lol, but I just had to!!

I dont own FF7 or FF8 or Alpen XD!

* * *

Vincent had gotten up quite early in the morning on force of habit. It was only then he realised that apparently his stupid room had no stupid windows; that is, realised after stumbling around in the dark for a while looking for the damn curtains.

He had found it quite ironic that he'd gone from a small coffin for living quarters to what was practically a big box. It may have sounded harsh but the raven haired man couldn't help but find himself inevitably blaming Mr Leon Lionhart for his non-windowness. He wasn't sure why but he'd decided that he didn't like this Leon, maybe it was because by the sounds of it he was some perfect guy enjoying his perfect life, that or it was because, somehow, he reminded Vincent of everything that he had once wanted to be some 30 years ago. It may have sounded unfair to judge the guy when he'd never even met him but oh well, that was the way of the world.

Vincent sighed and heaved himself off of his bed. He hadn't bothered to leave his room after waking, partly because he was afraid of the tension that he might have been greeted with when he would eventually bump into Cloud. He glanced at his alarm clock on his side desk.

6:30 am

Would Cloud be awake now? He doubted it, unless he had woken him with the clatter from his window miss-hap.

Pulling up one of his sweat pant legs he glanced at his shin and frowned at the newly forming bruise. The tall male had banged it on his bed post after tripping over some unpacked bags whilst searching for a light. He had managed to suppress a yell from the pain but he expected that the blonde may of heard his 6 foot form hit the floor.

Poking his head out of his door he glanced down the hallway. Clouds door was still shut. Vincent couldn't help but glare slightly at Clouds 'Door of Doom' as he quietly made his way out of his room. A shower would help his mood lighten up, the last thing he wanted was to snap at Cloud over nothing.

Gradually opening the bathroom door, he felt warm, steamy air hitting his face. His eyes widened as they stared back into shocked blue ones. Cloud was stood, dripping wet, barely covering himself with a towel that he had hastily used to try and un-expose himself with.

Both men's faces burned bright red.

Yelps and rushed apologise were thrown out into the fog as Cloud desperately tried to avoid further embarrassment and Vincent hurriedly excused himself.

The raven haired man lent on the outer door, panting slightly. He could still feel his face burning.

'_Why does this always happen to me? I just walked in on Cloud naked! Now he's really gonna think I'm some kind of Peeping Tom!'_

He could feel his face begin to flush once more at the image he had just seen and shook his head violently to rid himself of it.

Well, that situation had been bad and it would only get worse if Cloud went to leave the bathroom and Vincent was still stood outside it. His shower would have to wait. Feeling worse then he previously had, he strolled back to his room, he new that living together was a stupid idea and if anything, Vincent was pretty sure that now Cloud was further away from liking him as a friend than he had been before.

After throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans and a red shirt complete with black waistcoat, the taller man made his way downstairs. All the stress the last 24 hours had put him through had made him pretty hungry and although a bowl of 'Alpen' may not be very appetising to look at, Vincent loved the stuff.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud rubbed his messy gold spikes with the towel before tossing it onto his bed. He sighed and began to rummage through his wardrobe for a suitable top to were with his baggy trousers. He was actually quite surprised that he had managed to put all of his clothes away as quickly as he had, but seeing as how had gotten bored sometime between 3-4 in the morning, it seemed like a sensible way to pass the time. The blonde rubbed slightly at one of his tired eyes. Although he new that he would have found it hard to sleep on his first night, he had hoped that by having someone in the room next door would have helped. Truth was he had always had trouble when it came to sleeping alone, and after having someone to share a bed with for such a long time he had grown accustom and to be honest, quite fond of it.

He paused briefly, using his arm, he shifted some of the clothes hanging in his wardrobe to reveal a small box that had been tucked neatly away.

His blue eyes saddened. His features becoming pained from the memory.

" Zack…"

Hesitantly, he reached for the box but drew back instantly, shifting his gaze towards the door. He was sure he had heard a noise? The blonde remained frozen, staring intently at the door.

He sighed, smirking at his stupidity and paranoia. He had heard the noise again, it was only the sound of a cupboard door being closed, Vincent must be getting something from in the kitchen. He couldn't help but get slightly embarrassed thinking of his unlikely house mate. The shower fiasco earlier had caught Cloud of guard and inevitably put him a little on edge; not with Vincent specifically, just the fact that the black haired man had walked in on him at one of his most vulnerable moments.

The blonde nodded in agreement with himself. Yep, he was pretty sure that being caught practically stark naked was one of the most vulnerable moments that _**any**_ one could be caught in.

He rubbed his stomach slightly. After hearing Vincent rummaging in the kitchen, it painfully reminded him that he to had yet to have breakfast.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vincent turned the page of his newspaper whilst he sat at the breakfast table. He had to admit that it felt sort of strange to be sat in a room he had never really been in before, in a house with someone he only really new as an acquaintance. It was like he had woken up in some kind of alternate dimension or living someone else's life. He chuckled slightly to himself. He watched way to much Sci-Fi as a kid.

Suddenly he turned his Crimson eyes directly towards the door.

Cloud jumped slightly as he caught sight of the fierce glance, automatically he felt stupid for it though, it wasn't as if he had been caught doing anything wrong, even if that's what it had felt like. The blonde looked away from the raven haired man silently cursing himself. He could never look anyone in the eyes anymore.

Vincent's expression relaxed as he recognised the figure entering the kitchen._' Damn, I'm too suspicious . I have to loosen up! I want him to know that I trust him, not think that I'm sad enough to go out of my way to glare at him every opportunity I get. Great now he must definitely think I hate him' _

Vincent damned himself mentally for his own stupid ness as Cloud silently sat down at the table.

"what's that?"

The older man paused for a moment before looking at the figure sat beside him. He stared dumbly at the blondes questioning face. Cloud blinked at the lack of response he received. He tilted his spiky head to the side, looking at Vincent expectantly.

Vincent noted Clouds expression

'_So he __**did **__say something…'_

" oh sorry…umm what?"

Vincent questioned after shaking the stupid look off of his face.

" I said…" Cloud began again, quirking an eyebrow at the weird look Vincent had previously given him. "what's that?"

The blond nodded his head towards the older mans half empty bowl of what looked like mushy wood chippings.

"oh, uh it's Alpen. A cereal."

Vincent tried not to say it matter of fact like, he wasn't sure if Cloud was being funny or not. Surely he had heard of it?

"that's a cereal?" Cloud replied with a wrinkle of his nose. "It looks gross!"

Vincent pouted slightly at that. He didn't appreciate someone 'dissing' his favourite cereal.

"It's good actually, you should try it sometime" the older man stated.

He raised his eyebrows as he watched the blonde pick up _his _spoon and shove a mouthful into his gob. The raven haired man didn't mean that Cloud had to try it right now, actually he was just pretty stunned that the spiky headed youth not only tried some of Vincent's bowl but that he had used his spoon as well.

"Yuck!"

Cloud made a disgusted face before dropping Vincent's spoon back into the bowl. The taller male laughed slightly at the humorous face cloud had made.

"It's not that bad" he reasoned still smiling at the blonde.

"Yes it is! It taste like nothing! You might as well eat the box it comes in!" he said pushing the bowl further away from him and instead choosing to begin eating his own bowl of 'I'm a one way ticket to the dentist'.

Vincent had to laugh slightly at that. He stared at the blonde for a moment longer before turning back to his news paper. Had that conversation really just happened? He had actually just had a decent, well half decent, conversation with Cloud. Mr opens up to no one. He glanced at the spiky headed youth in the corner of his eye. He wasn't so scary, maybe this wouldn't be so bad? He couldn't help but find himself smiling at the sight of Cloud merrily sat wolfing down his bowl of cavities.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind if we have company later?" Cloud said mid chew.

Vincent shook his head, he had expected Cloud to invite Tifa or the kids round sometime soon anyway. As weird as it may have sounded, the vampiric male actually didn't mind kids.

"Not at all, may I ask who?" It was polite to ask, even if he did already know the answer.

"A good friend of mine, his names Leon"

The taller mans face dropped.

'_you have got to be kidding…'_

* * *

Well it was longer this time, I hope you liked and I'll try update soon aww i wuv you Leon! 


	3. A Reluctant Greeting

Hey Im sorry it took so long! I've been really busy, left school :( sniff anywho I tried to make it long so I hope it will kind of make up for it . i Don't know why I struggled to get back into writing this but I think got back into the flow of things, so more to come sooner (hopefully) he he. Thank you reviewers!! it meens alot to know that you guys are enjoying my story and thanks alot for all the positive feedback!

* * *

Vincent was brooding on their sofa. His arms were folded across his broad chest and he held the face of a slapped baby. Cloud new this guy too? It would seem that this Leon guy was _everywhere_, and although the last thing he had initially wanted to do was meet the 'super star' it seemed that now it was, inevitably, what was about to happen.

His crimson eyes turned scornfully over to Cloud. The blonde was happily lounging, well half hanging off of, their single chair. He had chosen to take that position almost immediately after breakfast and refused to do anything else for the 45minutes that they had been occupying the living room.

Vincent's eyebrow twitched. As if the news about 'Mr perfect' hadn't been bad enough the raven haired man was beginning to get increasingly agitated at the constant flash going on in the corner of his eye. Apparently Cloud had a few annoying little habits that the raven haired man hadn't been aware of. For instance he was what Vincent liked to call a 'flicker'. For Vincent, a flicker was one of _**the most **_annoying people to ever get their grubby mitts on a television remote. The most annoying person being, that one ass who claims to be watching T.V even with their eyes closed, or rather 'listening to it', and only want to actually watch T.V once you attempt to take the remote from them.

The taller male was experiencing how irritating a 'flicker' could be at that very moment.

For the past 40 minutes Cloud had been repeatedly flicking through the many channels television had to offer, miraculously though, he never seemed to be able to find anything he wanted to watch; and as if the little light show Cloud had going on in the corner wasn't bad enough, the spiky headed youth had also resigned to repeatedly swinging one of his legs as he sat/led on the chair; merrily bouncing his stubby little limb on and off of the couch seat. On and off. On and off…

Vincent watched in astonishment. How could he not know he was being so irritating!?

'_Damn it! I have to say something before I stab my own freaking eyes out!'_

Vincent opened his mouth but stopped before anything came out. Cloud had finally stopped flicking and was concentrating on something on the television. Following his gaze, Vincent raised a slender eyebrow when his own gaze was met with a pair of big brown eyes set upon a little furry face, staring back at him through the glass screen.

'_You have got to be kidding…'_

Out of every possible station broadcasted on their god forsaken planet, it seemed that Cloud had eventually decided to watch 'Animal Planet'. Vincent continued to stare at the small creature as it scampered across the desert sand. The Meerkat sat back on its haunches, surveyed the area, then started the repetitive cycle again. The raven haired man gawped in disbelief. He was kidding right? Vincent glanced sideways at Cloud who was still staring intently at the screen, mouth slightly agape.

"Cloud, you are not being serio-"

Vincent stopped abruptly.

Cloud had turned his head at the sound as well so he was sure he wasn't hearing things.

There was a knock at the front door.

--

For the first time in forever, Cloud moved from the chair and headed towards the tapping object out in the hallway.

Vincent watched him go, waiting in anticipation. Well this was it. He was finally going to meet the legendary Leon.

Vincent couldn't help but wonder what the guy might look like. He had never really thought about it much and when ever he did he always got the image of some fat money grabbing sleez bag in his head, though he was certain that if the guy did look like that Cloud nor Yuffie would be hanging out with him.

Vincent shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself at the thought. He glanced back at the doorway hearing talking beyond it, followed by the light clunk of shoes being discarded.

Cloud returned to the room and stood by the door frame.

"This is Leon" He said bluntly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

A man a little taller than Cloud appeared behind him, his many belts clinking around his waste. Leon stepped next to Cloud and lazily lifted his hand.

"Hey" he casually said, moving his hand slightly to emphasize his greeting as his brunette bangs fell that little bit more in front of his silvery blue eyes.

Well he was definitely not what Vincent was expecting, in fact if anything, he was the exact opposite. Truth be told Vincent could see now how this guy had got his reputation, he wasn't half bad looking. Good figure, typical pretty boy looks, nice genuine smile and managed to pull off wearing leather fairly well.

Vincent pouted lightly, enviously looking at the man as the brunette comfortably spoke to Cloud.

'_Who am I trying to kid? That guys hot! Damn! Out of everybody in the entire world why did HE have to look like THAT? How am I suppose to get close to Cloud when he hangs around with people like him?'_

Vincent continued to view Leon as he cheerily conversed with the blonde. Though Cloud didn't seem much different than he would if it were Vincent he were speaking to (still his usual nonchalant self) , Vincent felt slightly annoyed at the fact that Cloud didn't seem to be awkward or uncomfortable with the visitor at all.

"O.K then let me go get changed." Cloud said before yawning and slinking lazily out of the room.

Vincent raised his eyebrows. _'What!? Don't leave me alone with-'_

"So, Vincent right?" Leon questioned, turning to face the male brooding on the couch.

"Uh, Yeh that's right."

"So, how are you? Must be weird living in some place new huh?" Leon walked a few paces further into the room whilst sticking his thumbs into his pockets.

"Yeh I guess, thanks for letting us accommodate your place" Vincent stood upon seeing the other male drawing closer. He wasn't sure why he did he just felt as though he should. Noticing the others height he couldn't help but have a slight satisfaction with the fact that he was that little bit taller than Leon.

"No problem at all. I never really use this place anyways, just used it to rent out occasionally if someone needed a place to stay. Actually, I never even bought this place." he smiled, slightly messing up his brown spikes as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm an orphan so this place, along with some cash, was kinda just left for me once I was old enough to take it." The brunette smiled cheekily, tilting his head to one side.

'_An orphan? Is this guy serious?'_

"Oh well that's fortunate, not the orphan part just about the stuff being left for you like that… not that there's anything wrong with being an orphan I just wouldn't want to be one, not for any particular reason…well actually probably because they don't have any parents and I DID love my parents when they were alive, even if my dad was quite an ass more than half the time…' Vincent trailed of into his own thoughts before realising just how deep he had dug his hole.

Leon quirked an eyebrow at him, his face confirming just how rude, confusing and depressing Vincent had managed to be in a matter of seconds.

Fiddling with his fingers, Vincent shamefully looked at Leon's dumb struck expression.

"Your kinda weird aren't ya" the brunette simply said smirking at the shocked expression that had newly formed on Vincent's face.

However, before the raven haired man had time to answer the extremely blunt and, in Vincent's opinion, rather rude statement, Cloud reappeared in the doorway.

"O.K I'm ready when you are" The blonde said, once again shoving a hand into the pocket of his baggy jeans after organising the hood on his white jacket.

"Yeh sure just coming" Leon said turning towards the exit.

Vincent looked back at the brunettes retreating form, he wanted to remark on Leon's previous statement but had found that, now he had the chance to reply, he was lost for words. He shook his head slightly, knowing that later he would think of something really good to say for a comeback but by then it would be to late. How annoying.

"Are you coming?"

He turned his crimson eyes towards the voice and was once again met with Clouds tinted blue orbs. He supposed that the decent thing to do would be to let Leon have the private day out he had wanted with his old friend. To catch up, have a few good old chats with his pal and manage to worm his way that little bit closer to Cloud than Vincent would ever be. But why would Vincent allow that? If anything he was convinced this guy wanted more from the blonde than it seemed and that by allowing their day to proceed with out him would just be plain cruelty towards Cloud; after all, it was his duty as a buddy of the smallest male, to protect him from such atrocities.

"Uh yeh sure I'll come, that is…if Leon doesn't mind of course"

Cloud turned questionably towards the said man. Leon looked up from zipping his boots firmly on. He stood up, folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Hmm…nah I don't mind" he said after a few seconds of thought, shrugging his shoulders to emphasis that he didn't really care.

Vincent felt rather insulted that he blatantly even had to think about it.

'_The nerve of this guy!_ _to act so cool, well you know what pal? I would have come whether you liked it or not!'_

Vincent scornfully narrowed his eyes at the man, though at the same time hoped that non of them would notice his glare. He wanted to remain in Clouds good books and to do that he was betting he would have to stay in Leon's. A few moments later, after waiting for Vincent to put on his leather shoes, Cloud strolled towards the front door.

"O.K then, let's go"

* * *

:3


	4. A 'Fun' Day Out part 1

Sorry it's taken so long!! I did finish this part a while ago but I think It will be to long so I'll just make It into two chapters instead. Plus that way you guys get to read some more lol.

* * *

"It's a fair?"

"Yup" Leon smiled and moved to stand in front his male company. "I thought it would be something fun for us to do, specially since there's not a lot to do around here."

"You mean there's not a lot to do around here that doesn't cost a fortune." Cloud quirked a slim eyebrow and folded his arms across his built chest.

"Yep, exactly that" Leon replied with a cheeky grin, "C'mon it'll be fun" the brunette clasped his hands together "Please?"

Cloud rolled his eyes and gave the taller male next time him a questioning look.

"I see no harm in it, and Leon is right, it's something to do at least." Vincent said, glad that Cloud had turned to him for approval.

"Great!" Leon smiled and began walking towards the entrance of the fairground.

"I take it he likes the fair?" Vincent turned to the blonde.

Cloud looked at Vincent briefly before looking back to the fair ground and beginning to traipse after the brunette. Vincent rubbed the back of his head. '_I guess he's still a little uncomfortable around me, how long is this going to last?'_ He heaved a sigh lowering his gaze to the ground.

"Don't you wanna go anymore?"

Vincent's crimson eyes shot up. Cloud had stopped a few feet ahead of him and was giving Vincent a questioning look, seemingly waiting for the other to move.

"Uh, of course" the raven haired man smiled at the younger and began making his way towards him.

--

"Apparently it's pretty busy today" Vincent spoke aloud to himself, trying to manoeuvre his way around a young woman with a pram without knocking over an old lady browsing a nearby stall.

"Oops! Sorry about that" Vincent turned to the OAP he hadn't successfully managed to avoid. She glared at him through her tired eyes before hobbling away whilst grumbling obscenities about 'today's reckless youth'.

Vincent watched her go in disbelief. He'd said he was sorry what more did she want? Besides if Cloud hadn't darted in front of him he wouldn't have pushed her into the stall in the first place. Actually, why had Cloud sped across him?

He surveyed the area, using his height as an advantage to see over the hectic crowd. Recognising unmistakable spiky locks, he began to make his way over to the fenced region Cloud had subsided by.

The raven haired man managed to ease his way through the audience surrounding the paddock. He stepped next to the blonde. "What's going on?"

Cloud turned to the taller man, his eyes beaming with happiness and excitement for what Vincent felt had to be the first time. The darker haired man stared slightly in astonishment. He'd never seen Cloud with that expression before, needless to say, it was pretty damn cute.

"It's a Chocobo pen!" The Shorter male seemed to bounce slightly at his exclamation, continuing to beam at Vincent.

'_To cute.' _.Vincent couldn't hold back his smile.

From nowhere, Leon strode over and stopped beside them both, easily ruining the moment in Vincent's opinion. "It says we can enter the area for a small fee."

Cloud turned to the brunette with that same look of excitement, until slowly his face dropped and his blue eyes saddened.

"Cloud?" Leon questioned, seeing the blondes change in expression.

"I ain't brought my wallet, if I'da known we were coming here then I would have…" He lowered his gaze to the ground and slumped his arms to his sides.

Vincent had never seen the blonde get so happy about something before. He new Cloud had kept Chocobo's once but had no idea he had such a fondness for the feathered creature.

"Well that's not so bad, it would have been silly if you brought another ticket after I'd already brought three." Smirking, Leon produced the said tickets from behind his leather jacket.

The blonde's mako blue eyes were once again ecstatic. Cloud half smiled, seeing as that type of smile was the most Cloud could ever seem to conjure up, and happily took his ticket from Leon.

"Your coming to stretch" Leon lazily waved his arm in a gesture for Vincent to follow as him and Cloud made their way over to the pen entrance.

But Vincent didn't begin to follow immediately, he was to busy burning daggers into the back of the brunettes big head.

_He _was going to offer Cloud the money for the tickets, _he _was going to bring that adorable smile back to Clouds face and most importantly _he_ was going to be the hero. But no, good guy Leon had already beat him to it. Not only did he beat him to it by buying the tickets but he hadn't even given Vincent the chance to offer to buy them and now Cloud would never know that he would have.

Why did that guy have to be so…so… smooth…

"Are you coming or are you scared?"

Vincent was woken from his thoughts by said smooth guys question, Cloud and him were stood at the entrance waiting for the raven haired man.

'_How dare he! Who does he think he is to even assume that I would be afraid of such a dim-witted, obtuse, ignorant creature!'_

"Don't be absurd. It's nothing like that, although I'm not going to deny the fact that I don't have a particular like or interest for Chocobo's"

"You don't like Chocobo's?"

Cloud raised his slim eyebrows, giving Vincent an astonished yet slightly disappointed look, as if the very thought of not liking Chocobo's was insane.

_Damn…_

"Well no, it's not that I don't like Chocobo's I just don't particularly like them either…" Vincent himself was confused at his statement let alone how confusing it must have been for Cloud and Leon.

"Yeh…O-K" Leon smirked at Vincent before turning and entering the area. The blonde however gave Vincent one last look of depressing puzzlement before following the brunette.

For some reason Vincent couldn't help but feel like the acclamation that he didn't particularly like the giant birds was almost as if, what he was really saying, was that he didn't particularly like Cloud either. Or at least that's what he felt Cloud heard it as.

'_Oh for goodness sake! Cant I do anything right today?' _

Vincent stomped on a discarded piece of rubbish in frustration, only to find out that it was the wrapper of some chewing gum, but not just the wrapper, someone had instead put their used chewing gum back in the packaging before littering the ground with it.

The raven haired mans crimson eyes flashed with fury.

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Vincent hopped for a moment before hastily grabbing hold of his foot to inspect the bottom.

"What is that! WHAT IS THAT!"

He continued to glare at the soul of his shoe, if glares really could scold then the gum would have most definitely been singed off.

After his ferocious outburst, and after receiving some very strange glances, his pale slender hand reached for a random stick on the floor to scrape the chewy substance from his boot.

"This day could not get any worse." he grumbled whilst relieving his shoe of it's sticky confines before finally heading to catch up with his company.

--

"Aww I think he likes you Cloud."

Leon smiled as his silvery blue eyes watched the blonde continue to stroke the feathered beast. The brunette was glad to have brought some happiness into the smaller males dramatic life, even if just for the few hours that they'd be there for. He'd known Cloud for about a year now, and it was honestly quite painful for him to watch how, more often then not, Cloud was upset and depressed rather than happy.

He understood why of course. Cloud had gotten more relaxed around him after a few months and at one point confided in him about his loss of a man named Zack. Leon had never heard of the man before then, and definitely had no idea that him and Cloud had once been lovers.

It was heart braking for Leon to hear about the turmoil the blonde had gone through as a child; but when the younger man had told him about the tragic death of the one person Cloud had ever opened up to enough to love, it had just about pushed Leon over the edge and he couldn't help but find himself trying to fight back tears for his friend that very night.

For Leon, what he had found most upsetting about it was the way Cloud had told him the story. His voice had been monotone and had held no emotion, almost as if he had no tears left to cry about it; either that or perhaps the emotion in Cloud had died along with Zack.

He honestly didn't know how Cloud was still here, semi-smiling with him today. He was thank full, sure, but Leon new all to well in himself that if it had been him to go through everything that the blonde had, by now he would have-

"It's about time, where the hell ya been?"

Clouds question thankfully pulled Leon from his thoughts. He turned to face where the blondes blue-green eyes were looking and saw Vincent finally making his way towards them. He was limping slightly and definitely didn't look very happy.

Leon chuckled slightly at the taller mans fiery expression. He had to admit that he liked the guy, he generally seemed like a nice enough bloke and if Cloud liked him then hell Leon liked him too.

"Yes I'm _finally_ here" Vincent flung his arms up whilst continuing his way towards the two. "After traipsing across this stupid gigantic field where everything looks the same, after twisting my ankle from stumbling into some kind of a demented ditch and after narrowly avoiding being attacked by an enormous bird chasing me half way across the plains! I am finally here O.K!"

Leon chuckled again at the anger emitting from the man. "The guy at the gate did say to be careful since the female Chocobo's are laying eggs around this time of year, he said they get a little protective of them." he placed a hand on his hip, still smirking at Vincent.

Vincent had to sarcastically spit out a laugh at that. He was not in the mood to put up with Leon's 'too cool for school' attitude right now. "I think I'm fully aware that they might be a bit protective of their eggs _Leon_!" he spat.

"I don't need _you_ of all people to-"

_CRACK_

He stopped mid sentence as all three young men's faces dropped.

Slowly, Vincent looked down to find the source of the dreadful sound they had all just heard. As soon as he laid eyes on the reason for it he wished he hadn't. He lifted his foot out of the gooey contents of the shell, the gangly substance hanging from his leg as he did so. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Is that…"

"Did you just…"

"You trod on a Chocobo egg!" Cloud cried with a horrified face.

The spiky headed youth ran over to Vincent and stopped in front of the broken shell. He slowly looked up at Vincent frowning sadly, his big blue eyes staring intently at him like a hurt puppies. Even at a time like this Vincent couldn't help but think about how cute Cloud looked with that expression.

"You've killed it." the blonde pouted.

"I… I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I… I wasn't looking where I was going and…"

Vincent managed to splutter. His anger had disappeared now, replaced with remorse.

'_This is awful! I can't stand that look, he looks so upset'_

Vincent stared back, his mouth agape, unable to say anything to help himself.

"Hey we should move on before someone comes by, we've been here for almost all the forty minutes we were aloud anyway." Leon's deep voice broke through the silence as he stepped towards them both. He gave Clouds shoulder a little squeeze. "Accidents happen Cloud." he gave him a reassuring yet sympathetic smile.

"Come on, lets go check out what else there is ay?" he steered a reluctant Cloud away from the mini murder scene and ushered him in the direction of the exit. The brunette glanced over his muscular shoulder and frowned accusingly at Vincent. "Come on."

Today was working out to be one of the worst days of Vincent's life. And that's saying a lot considering he had previously fallen in love with a woman that was already married, not just married, no, she had to be married to the very mad man that made him the _thing_ he considered himself to be today. That, and the fact he had spent 30 years of his eternal life in a coffin placed in the basement of a haunting old mansion were all sorts of nightmares began.

He hung his head sadly, his raven bangs falling to shape his pale slender face. Well, there was no point going home now. As much as he would love to just go home, curl up on the sofa and watch some lame soap operas until sleep took him, he refused to throw in the towel. Why make himself look childish by storming of? Or rather why, after all that had already happened, leave Cloud alone with Leon now? Vincent was never one for excepting defeat and he certainly wasn't giving up on Cloud after only a few days. Be it a few bad days sure, but still…

Vincent's crimson eyes turned up to Leon's retreating back with a new look of determination. _'I better get there fast before HE sucks up to him any further' _Vincent smirked at his unknowing rival and began to jog his long legs over the distance between them. He had to try make things right again, and if that meant removing Leon from the picture for a little while then so be it.

* * *

Hope you guys like! please review! I love getting feedback and it inspires me to write more because that way I know I have readers to bother writing for XD R.I.P chocobo TT


End file.
